The present disclosure relates to an automated system for monitoring and testing sump pump installations of the type commonly used in residential and commercial building basements. In particular, the disclosure is directed to a monitoring system for a sump pump installation which regularly tests and monitors the installation and proactively provides confirmation of a successful test and an alarm in the event of an unsuccessful test.
More specifically, sump pump installations are frequently provided in residential and commercial basements to remove ground water that accumulates around foundation footings and under the basement floor. To this end, a network of apertured drain tiles or flexible drain hoses is laid adjacent to the footings of the foundation walls on either the interior side or the exterior side of the walls, or both. These drain tiles or hoses are appropriately routed and sloped to drain accumulated water into one or inure sump liners, which typically have inlets connecting with the network of drain tiles/hoses and are set in the basement floor to form a sump pit having a bottom portion below that of the tiles/hoses. The most commonly used type of sump pumps are electrically-powered sump pumps designed to be completely submerged by water in the sump pit. At least one electrically-powered sump pump is typically positioned in the sump pit and, when powered, functions to discharge water from the pit through a discharge pipe to a dispersal location, such as a storm sewer or exterior dispersal field. The sump pump typically includes a float switch which causes it to operate when the level of ground water (or other liquid) in the sump pit has reached a predetermined trigger level, ordinarily set below the lowest inlet in the liner wall. That float switch also typically terminates operation of the pump when the water reaches a predetermined minimum level below the trigger level. A check valve prevents water remaining in the discharge pipe from flowing back into the sump pit.
Should the sump pump fail to operate for any reason, such as, for example, motor failure, pump failure, or power failure, and should the drain network continue to flow water into the sump pit, the pit will often eventually overflow from the top of the sump liner and flood into the basement. This flooding may result in significant and often costly damage to items stored in the basement, as well as to existing basement improvements such as finished walls and furniture.
Various monitoring systems have come into use for warning the home or business owner of an impending overflow of the sump pit. Typically, these rely on a float switch or other types of liquid level detectors to sense an abnormally high liquid level in the sump pit and to cause an alarm to be sounded and/or a warning message to be sent to the owner. The drawback of these systems is that they only function when the pump is already in a condition in which it is no longer capable to prevent flooding, i.e. when the pump has failed and the pit is about to overflow. This is frequently too late for corrective action to be taken.
Another type of monitoring system that has come into use provides an independent liquid level sensing float switch, or other equivalent liquid level sensing device, in the pit which functions to supply power to the pump when a predetermined trigger level is reached. The current drawn by the motor and a fall in the liquid level in the pump is then utilized to confirm operation of the pump. Unfortunately, an alarm is only sounded at a time when operation of the pump is required to prevent flooding but the pump does not operate. This, again, may be too late for any corrective action to be taken.
Still other monitoring systems attempt to reduce the likelihood of an overflow by providing a second back-up pump, typically set at a slightly higher level in the pit so as to operate only upon failure of the first pump, or an AC backup power source, such as a standby generator or a battery-powered inverter. Other systems provide an independent second DC battery-driven pump in the sump pit alongside the main AC-driven pump. Another monitoring system, in addition to providing two pumps in the sump pit, causes the pumps to alternate in operation in response to incoming ground water. While the provision of these systems may reduce the likelihood of a system failure, they do not proactively identify a pump failure prior to an impending flood event requiring reliable operation of the pump.
In contrast, the test and monitoring system of the present disclosure periodically confirms the operability of a sump pump installation and alerts the owner of a malfunction prior to the sump installation being required to operate to discharge drain water. This gives the owner sufficient time to correct the malfunction and thereby avoid what might otherwise be a serious basement flooding event. In the event the test and monitoring system of the disclosure is utilized in a two pump installation, both pumps are independently tested and monitored, and a failure of either pump, or both pumps, results in an alarm being sounded and appropriate messages being sent to the owner and/or the owners' designee(s) by communications channels such as, for example, the Internet, cell phone data or land line telephone communication channels.
Moreover, the regular and automatic testing provided by the test and monitoring system of the present disclosure has the further benefit of periodically placing any sump pumps in the monitored system in full operation to actually discharge water from the sump pit, thereby helping to prevent seals and bearings in the pump(s) and their motor(s) and associated check valve(s) from drying out or binding. Prior monitoring systems are reactive in that they act only in the event the monitored sump installation is called on to evacuate rising ground water, which may be only after extended periods of non-operation.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present disclosure to provide an improved automatic test and monitoring system for a sump pump installation.
It is a more specific object of the present disclosure to provide an automatic sump pump test and monitoring system which functions proactively to alert a user to a malfunctioning sump pump installation prior to the installation being required to prevent an impending overflow and flood condition.
It is a still more specific object of the present disclosure to provide a sump pump test and monitoring system which periodically tests the operation of a sump pump installation and provides an alarm to the user in the event the installation fails to perform satisfactorily.
It is yet another specific object of the disclosure to provide a sump pump test and monitoring system which regularly admits liquid to the sump pump container of a sump pump installation to force the sump pump of the installation through a test cycle whereby satisfactory operation can be verified in advance of any actual need for the pump installation.